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The planet Targon has been a nuisance to the Galactic Police for some time, but the trouble caused by the population has all been on-planet. Up until now, that is. Recent reports indicate that an incredibly powerful 'Assault Machine' is under construction - a machine that will allow the aggressive Targons to leave their solar system and conquer other planets.

This potential problem has to be nipped in the bud. You've been assigned the task of dealing with the situation. Four search droids and three atmosphere craft have been made available for the mission. Using the droids you must first map out the military installations on the planet and then plan a strafing run to destroy the Assault Machine and the factories where it's being built.

At the start of the game, the droids may be equipped - declining the option provides a default set of equipment, but selecting the option allows weaponry and detections systems to be chosen from an equipment screen.

The mission begins on one of Targon's many small islands. You've established a 'beach head' and can direct the proceedings without fear of enemy attack. The main display screen shows a scrolling map of the ten islands that support the factories that constitute the "Assault Machine Construction Complex". Move the cursor over one of the islands and press fire to confirm that you want to search it.

Select 'launch' in the action box and an arcade sequence begins, depicting your flight towards the island. The screen shows a 3D view with the atmosphere craft in the foreground. Targon assault craft appear from over the horizon and swoop in to attack, firing missiles as they thunder by. The atmosphere craft can fight back, using the limited supply of missiles, but is destroying if too many Targon missiles hit home. Two arrows give directions to the target, lighting up to indicate which way to go.

The screen changes on arrival at the island to show a vertically scrolling landscape with your craft at the bottom of the screen. Fly over the landscape to the drop zone where the droid can be offloaded, and then beat a retreat.

The droid takes a while to conduct the search. Occasionally it is ambushed by Targon land assault vehicles - the screen changes to show the droid and the surrounding landscape. Targons appear, firing missiles and attempt to knock out the droid. The droid's anti-Targon missiles are aimed using a cursor...

When the droid has finished its search, it's time to rescue it before embarking on a bombing run to destroy the island's installations. Flying over a vertically scrolling landscape, the aim is to bomb all the buildings in sight. After a run the strike rate is given, so you know whether a further strafing run is needed.

All four droids can be in the field at once, although the action gets a little fast and frantic as you change from screen to screen. The mission ends when all the atmosphere craft or droids have been destroyed - or the galaxy rendered a safe place once again by the destruction of the Assault Weapon complex.

I didn't like this at all! The sections of the game are all pretty awful and have feeble graphics. What I really dislike about the program is having to wait ages for the robot to search each of the islands. Once the searching is over, it's a case of bombing the island and then moving onto the next one, and so on... boring really.

The graphics are really wobbly - the sprites don't move smoothly at all, but the sound effects are quite reasonable - not exactly fabulous, but they suit the game. If you want a program with different things in it go for Nuclear Embargo, it's much better!

Although this game has different types of action screens, none of them are particularly good and they boil down to being rather naff versions of Missile Command, Xevious and a crummy 3D shoot-'em-up.

The whole game is pretty repetitive too, just plonking your droids down onto the various islands, waiting, and then shooting the installations once they've been found. The graphics are reasonable and the sound effects are quite passable, but I found the game lacking in any really exciting features.

If you're interested, take a look before buying.

It's quite difficult to see what niche of the market Nexus are aiming for with this game. It appears to have so many different facets to it, none of them particularly good. The first thing that struck me was how difficult the control system was to use - far too many selections in one tiny box on the screen; it really just didn't appeal.

The shoot-'em-up sequence hasn't got much going for it either. It looks like an arcade come simulation come total mish-mash! there is so much in this game that nothing is really polished, but then it is so much easier to criticise a game...

Presentation 79%
Good instructions and reasonable in-game presentation.

Graphics 69%
Varied but nothing really outstanding.

Sound 58%
Numerous spot effects which work quite well with the game.

Hookability 68%
Initially tricky to grasp the multi-tasking of the droids.

Lastability 60%
Plenty to do, if you enjoy this sort of action.

Value For Money 54%
Better entertainment can be had for a tenner.

Overall 59%
An unusual and mildly interesting game, but nothing to write home about.